MSC Seaside Review

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Review for the Eastern Caribbean Cruise on MSC Seaside
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CruisinLJ
10+ Cruises • Age 50s

Rating by category

Cabin
Value for Money
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Additional details

Sail Date: Nov 2019
Cabin: Fantastica Suite

After sailing Carnival, Holland America, Princess and Royal Caribbean, I chose to try MSC for a Caribbean cruise. I had heard many bad things about the ship here on Cruise Critic. Most specifically, bad food, rude passengers, poor customer service and lacking entertainment.

Before we boarded, we were made aware of an itinerary change. Our original plan was San Juan, St Thomas, Nassau, and their new private island of Ocean Cay. They canceled the Ocean Cay stop because the island wasn't ready for visitors yet. I was OK with another day at sea in exchange for an on-board credit or $100 per stateroom. When we boarded, we were informed via letter in the stateroom that Nassau had been canceled as well. They added stops to Tortola and Puerto Plata. We still received the $100 credit. I was OK with the changed stops, although I have already been on those stops before.

I think that reading all the bad reviews really lowered my expectations from this cruise. I was prepared for a less than stellar cruise. Here's my thoughts below:

Cabin Review

Fantastica Suite

10264 is a nice room. Compared to a regular balcony, this one is wider with a bigger bathroom. The balcony wraps around and there are 2 chairs, one footstool and 2 high back chairs that recline. The balcony is only 2 decks above the outdoor dining area for the buffet and the adults only pool. The result is a very noisy deck when those two areas are noisy. If you are bothered by that type of noise, like I was, bring a pair of earbuds and listen to your own music. On 2 nights, they had an outdoor party at the back of the ship that went until 1am. Good luck sleeping until they turn the music off. It is very loud. Also, for a ship that is only 2 years old... The couch was VERY dirty as was the carpet (my feet and socks were black on the bottom after very little walking w/o shoes only in my room. The bed was really hard for me, so much so that I went to a K-Mart in St Thomas to buy a bed pad as the cabin steward didn't have any.

It was absolutely AWESOME waking up, using a remote to open the shades on the window that looks to the back of the ship, and propping myself up on the bed. You can see the trailing wake of the ship and it immediately reminds you that you are on vacation...

Port Reviews

San Juan

Stopped from 5pm - 1am. I liked having time to go to dinner for real Puerto Rican food and visit Restaurant Barrachina (one of many to claim they invented the Pina Colada).

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